Frezno

by Tony Stamolis (Photographer), Terry Allen (Introduction)

“I love this book. It’s all in here and the heart of it is Tony’s big true eye. He got it . . . the oddness, meanness, beauty and soul of this sad hilarious fractured place. Viva Fresno.”—Terry Allen The central California teenage wasteland is the bane of its inhabitants and the butt of a thousand late night TV jokes. It comes in next to dead last in surveys of cities with a high quality of life. Though it’s one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the country, with a large population of Basques, Hispanics, African Americans, Vietnamese, and Armenians, Fresno is also a killing capitol, home to low-riding cholos, empty buildings, and dope drops. It is also the birthplace of the lauded young photographer Tony Stamolis, whose fascination with his strange hometown provides a disturbing, hilarious, and poignant insider’s view of post-suburban American badlands and its inhabitants. Tony Stamolis exhibits in New York; Los Angeles; Marfa, Texas; and overseas. His work also appears in The New York Times , RollingStone , Maxim , Urb , Nerve , Giant , Mass Appeal , Flaunt , and Black Book .

Genres: Photography

132 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2008

Reviews

[Neo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Stamolis captures a certain peculiar side of Fresno, which may ultimately be of interest only to those born and reared there, as Tony and I both were. But he also captures the side of Fresno which is in a way peculiar but at the same time perfectly general. I suppose it is the notion that if one takes a close look at regular folks, one sees some pretty surprising things, and this is a universal phenomenon. Only the names change from one place to the next.

I like Tony's eye and found the work enjoyable, and also instructive and inspirational in terms of my own work. The forward from Terry Allen is itself interesting; in depicting Fresno to set the stage for the photography, it gets some things keenly right, and some things pretty wrong. What he gets wrong seems to stem from he himself slipping into the very "fresnoia" he aptly describes in the parts he gets right.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Puts the NO in Fresno.

[Faythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really captures what Fresno really looks like. I liked it.